Animal developmental biology 1400-123BRZ

The aim of practical classes is to demonstrate the pattern of development of animals, which belong to different systematic groups. Developmental stages are shown and discussed in invertebrate model organisms – Caenorhabditis elegans, sea urchin, Drosophila melanogaster, as well as in vertebrates – fish, birds, mammals. During each class short introductory instruction on the subject of the class goes before the practical part. During this talk, the objects which are going to be the observed by students, are discussed in detail. Subsequently students individually observe and analyze preparations provided by teaching assistant or make simple preparations by themselves using live material (C. elegans, early chick embryos).
During the lecture students are introduced to basic molecular mechanism, which control development of the animals. Successive stages of development are presented, and regulation of developmental processes in model organisms is illustrated with slides, films and computer animations, which are integrated into presentations. The following topics are covered during the course: Introduction - developmental processes, stages of development, sexual reproduction; Gametogenesis - primordial germ cells, somatic cells accompanying germ cells, meiosis and cell differentiation during spermatogenesis and oogenesis, gene expression during oogenesis, localized RNA in the oocyte; Oocyte maturation – molecular mechanisms which control maturation of the oocyte in amphibians and mammals (MPF, CSF, MAPK); Fertilization – mechanisms regulating fertilization in sea urchin and mouse; Cleavage – molecular control of karyokinesis and cytokinesis, regulation of the cell cycle during early development, different patterns of cleavage, genetic control of cleavage, cleavage of the mammalian embryo; Early determination of the cell fate – autonomous determination – mosaic development, conditional determination – regulative development, significance of localized maternal determinants, cell differentiation in development of C. elegans; Sequential expression of genes which regulate development of D. melanogaster – gradients of maternal factors, spatially diversified expression of embryonic genes, role of homeotic genes; Gastrulation – mechanisms of gastrulation movements in sea urchin, gastrulation in other selected organisms, prospective fate map of amphibian blastula and determination of the localization of the dorsal lip of the blatopore; Regulative development – development of the sea urchin, regulative potential of the early mammalian embryo, mammalian embryonic stem cells, reduction of the developmental potential of cells in gastrulating amphibian embryo, the function of organizer, cascade of induction during development of X. laevis, induction of mesoderm; Inductive interactions during organogenesis – competence of a given tissue to respond to a specific inductive signal, epithelial-mesenchymal interactions, regional specificity of induction, genetic specificity of induction, role of the Hox genes in patterning of the embryo; Development of the tetrapod limb – role of the Hox genes in specification of the position of the limb, regulative properties of the amphibian limb bud, formation of the limb bud, specification of the forelimb or hindlimb, interactions of the epithelium and mesenchyme of the limb bud – formation of apical ectodermal ridge, pattern formation during development of the limb; Development of the gonads in mammals– source of primordial germ cells and cells which form the somatic part of the gonads, hormonal regulation of the sexual phenotype – development of the gonads and their ducts in mammals, regulation of the development of external genitalia, masculinization factors, pole plasm and pole cells in D. melanogaster, formation and migration of primordial germ cells in birds and mammals, chromosomal diminution in Parascaris; Sex determination – genetic sex determination in mammals and in D. melanogaster, environmental sex determination.